Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 in Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer: Issues in Assessment Methods and Its Role as Prognostic/Predictive Marker and Putative Therapeutic Target: A Comprehensive Review

Although human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) plays a prognostic and predictive role in breast and gastric cancer, its function in bladder cancer (BC) is still controversial. A comprehensive review of the literature has been carried out. An electronic search of databases from PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar was implemented. The search terms were: “BC,” “bladder carcinoma,” “bladder neoplasm,” “human epidermal growth factor 2,” “HER2,” “HER-2,” “c-erbB-2,” “c-erbB2,” “erbB-2,” “erbB2,” “neu,” “marker,” “biomarker,” and “prognosis”. Results of the review consented to (a) summarize the available data on HER2 a predictor of recurrence and/or progression free survival on univariate and multivariate analysis, (b) explore the related issues in assessing HER2 status on these tumor samples, since they may severely impair its predictive function, and (c) report the state-of-the art of HER2 as a putative therapeutic target in BC and especially non-muscle invasive BC. HER2 stands out for being a prognostic factor as well as a therapeutic target in various cancers. Data from the literature concerning its use in BC provide conflicting results, probably due to the inherent complexity of BC biology. Efforts should be made to establish a suitable tumor-specific scoring system, and to assess single drugs’ efficacy in well-designed clinical trials.